Cattle guard



Jan. 16, 1923.

V 11,442,495 J. A. RANKIN.

CATTLE GUARD. LED JULY 12. I921 J. R Rmnkin i atented Diana 15, 1923.

iii STATES JOHN ALEXANDER RANKIN, 0F CLOVER BAR, ALBERTA, CANADA.

CATTLE GUARD.

Application filed July 12, 1921. Serial No. 484,246.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoI-IN ALEXANDER RANKIN, of the post office of Clover Bar, in the Province of Alberta, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cattle Guards of which the following is the specification.

he invention relates to imjn'ovcments in cattle guards and particularly to a cattle guard as used on railroads and an object of the invention is to provide a guard which will effectively prevent cattle or other such roving animals from wanderii'lg along the track at a crossing and which is also designed to permit at all times of the free passage of the trains.

A further object of the invention is to construct a guard presenting normally open gates adapted to be closed across the track and actuated by the approaching animal and designed so that they will forcibly strike the animal and in so doing cause it to immediately withdraw and further which are arranged so that they automatically open after the animal has withdrawn.

A still further object is to construct the guard so that it can be readily installed and so that it can be positively relied upon to do the work for which it is designed.

"With the above more important objects in view the invention cons'sts essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter more particularly described and later pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the complete cattle guard and as it appears with the gates in the normal posit-ion that is open.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the cattle guard, the section passing centrally of the track.

Fig. is vertical sectional view through one side of the cattle guard showing the operating gears and other associated parts.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

As is customary the cattle guard is placed in the usual position across the track and by the side of the crossing. The railroad track rails 1 and 2 are carried by the customary ties or sleepers 3. In the present disclosure the road is considered as crossing the track at the left hand side of the drawing.

lVhen the cattle guard is to be installed I first dig a. shallow pit 4: underneath the tracks at the side of the crossing and locate a number of supporting beams or foot pieces and (3 in the bottom of the pit these carrying lengthwise extending joists or beams 7, 8, 9 and 10, the beams 8 and 9 being preferably immediately underneath the track rails and those 7 and 10 positioned somewhat to the sides of the track rails. The rails are spiked. directly to the beams 8 and J as indicated at 11. Parallel end beams 12 and 13 extend transversely of the track, and are mortised into the ends of the beams "i', 8, 9 and 10 and permanently fastened thereto. This under beam structure forms framework which contains a central platform 1 located between the beams 8 and 9 and two side platforms 15 and 16 located between the beams 7 and 8, 9 and 10.

The platforms are all carried by a cross shaft 17 having suitable bearings in the beams 7, 8 9 and 10 and here it will be observed that the shaft is disposed to the side of the transverse axis of the platforms and that the long ends of the platforms are fitted with weights 18 which positively maintain the platforms in a horizontal positon with the long ends engaging with stop beam 19 set in from the end of the under frame. Accordingly the platforms are maintained approximately in the plane containing the bases of the rails and obviously should an animal step on the left hand or unsupported end of any platform t will swing down and effect the rotation of the shaft as the platforms are fastened permanently to the shaft. This movement which is produced by the animal is utilized to rotate the engaging gears which control and operate the gates shortly described.

At each side of the frame and immediately adjoining the ends o the shaft l locate a specially cast preferably hollow base block 520 which is iermanent-ly set in the ground and carries a pair of vertically disposed spindles 2i and 952 and is fitted with a vertically extending socket 223. Each base block is provided with a large gear wheel 24- rotat-ably mounted on the spindle 22 and with a smaller gear wheel 25 rotatably mounted on the spindle 21,, the gear wheels meshing.

The projecting ends of the shaft 17 are fitted with similar gear wheels 26 and 27 and these mesh with small gears 28 and 29 at tached to or formed as an integral. part of the gears 2%. The sockets as receive pivotally pivot spindles 30 and 31 formed as extensions of the outer ends of the gates 32 and 33. These gates are of a light yet strong c nstruction and they are adapted when swung inwardly to meet and lap slightly at the centre of the track. To the spindles 30 and 31 I secure pinions 234iand 35, these being designed to mesh with the gears 25.

When the platforms are in the normal or horizontal position the gates are open or parallel with the track in which position they are shown in Fig. l. The engaged train of gears and pinions at the opposite sides of the platform are of such a. ratio that the down swil'iging movement of the short end of any platform will effect the simultaneous iii-swinging of the gates, the swing being somewhat more than ninety degrees. The gates can be readily set by lifting them to raise the spindles and withdraw the teeth of the pinions 3st and from the teeth of the gears 25 and then, after swinging the gates to make an adjust ment, dropping the spindles to re-engage the teeth of the said pinions and gears.

The down-swinging movement of the short or left hand ends of the platforms are limited by the engagement of the platforms with the cross beam 5.

rrccording to the above construction it will be obvious that should an animal attempt to wander fromthe road crossing on to the tracks it will step on the free end of one or the other of the platforms and the said end will go down quickly. meshed gears and pinions are accordingly turned quickly with the result that both the gates swing in quickly and not only bar the progress of the animal but in all probability will hit the head of the animal. This coincident barring and striking action will elf-ectively act to make the animal quickly with draw. Immediately the animal withdraws the platform, being relieved of its weight, swings back to normal position under the action of the attached weight 18 and in this connection it is remarked that the long The inter end of the platform. must be heavy enough to return the gates to their normal out posi- -tion immediately the weight of the animal is removed from the platform.

The customary fence posts are indicated at.3(3 and 37 and the usual post braces at 38 and 39.

lVhilst I have described the guard as embodying three platforms, I do not wish it to be restricted to this precise number as one or more could be used as occasion demands.

Further, I have not shown the gears and pinions as enclosed. A suitable housing will be provided to enclose them to protect them from the weather. As the structure was more easily shown without such coverings l have omitted them.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a cattle guard for railways, :1. normally horizontal platform disposed between the track rails, a rotatably mounted cross shaft passing transversely of the track and pivotally supporting and permanently attached to the platform, a pair of gates located at the sides of the track and adjacent the ends ofthe shaft and adapted to swing inwardly across the track, a gear wheel permanently secured t each end of the shaft, a pinion permanently secured to each gate, a train of gears connecting the pinions of the gates with the gear wheels of the shaft, said gears and pinions being adapted to close the gates across the track upon an animal stepping on one end of the plat-- form.

2. In a cattle guard, the combination of a pivoted platform, a rotatable shaft operable by movement of said platform, a casting formed with a socket, a swingingguard having a post rotatably mounted in said socket and intermeshing gears carried bysaid post, casting and shaft.

Signed at Edmonton this 4th day of May,

JOHN ALE XANDER RANKIN In the presence of- J. C. SHERRY, W. E. .HANSFORD. 

